Bright reconsiders proposal to keep tax office downtown

Newly elected county commissioner Jack Bright was clear about his intent to ask the board to reconsider the move of several specific offices from downtown Jacksonville before the election.

AMANDA WILCOX - Daily News Staff

Newly elected county commissioner Jack Bright was clear about his intent to ask the board to reconsider the move of several specific offices from downtown Jacksonville before the election.

At least until he realized the incumbents had no plans to reconsider their decision.

“The decision that has been made is in the best interest financially for the citizens of Onslow County,” Commissioner Barbara Ikner said Wednesday. “It was the best decision six weeks ago, and just because we had an election doesn’t mean it’s not the right decision anymore.”

The Onslow County Board of Commissioners voted in August to move the tax office, finance and purchasing, human resources, planning and development, code enforcement, environmental health, county attorney, information technology and veterans services out of downtown Jacksonville and into a soon-to-be-built $22 million government center in Burton Park.

Bright said throughout his campaign that he would ask the new board to reconsider moving the tax office, noting that residents and lawyers who have business with the register of deeds often need to use the tax office at the same time. The register of deeds will be remaining downtown.

Fellow commissioners W.C. Jarman and Paul Buchanan agreed with Ikner, saying a reevaluation of the decision to move offices out of downtown Jacksonville is out of the question.

“That decision has already been made by the commissioners,” Buchanan said. “I have no plans of addressing it again.”

Bright said he didn’t realize the commissioners’ decisions had been “carved in stone.”

“If I can’t convince them to reevaluate those moves then I’ll just accept whatever they have chosen to do,” Bright said. “I mean I don’t have any choice. I’ve only got one vote.”

Bright added that as the newest commissioner to join the board, he has every intention of working with the incumbents to achieve a common goal: helping the citizens of Onslow County.

“I want to be able to work with them. That would be my personal preference to leave the tax office (downtown), but I don’t want to be confrontational to the board because we’re supposed to be a team now,” he said.

Bright said he hopes the board can focus the next four years on issues like dealing with the Marine Corps drawdown and the 8,000 troops that are slated to leave Jacksonville, as well as the rising cost of insurance for homeowners on the Crystal Coast.

Contact Daily News Military Reporter Amanda Wilcox at 910-219-8453 or amanda.wilcox@jdnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AWilcox21.